As one journey ends...

Well. It is official. After 2 1/2 years of dedicating my life to AmeriCorps, all of my hard work has paid off.

In October of 2010 I took quite a leap of faith in moving to Denver with only 2 weeks notice. This was very unlike me to do something so spontaneous without a plan. I think that moment in my life was the hardest, bravest and most life changing decision ever. So I packed, moved to Denver and set off on the biggest adventure of my life. I spent 10 months meeting lifelong friends, doing work that made a difference, and traveling the country. Because I learned to have a love of service, I decided to dedicate myself to yet another year with AmeriCorps.

I learned about Big Brothers Big Sisters when we were in Denver and they said "choose one of these nonprofits to visit and go learn about it". So I got to go visit BBBS in Denver and fell in love with the concept. At that meeting they had an employee who was a former AmeriCorps*VISTA and I thought "Oh, so that's how you get into such a great job". So then the search began and I applied to 6 different BBBS not caring where I went, I just knew this job was wanted I wanted to try next. After coming close to getting a position in Seattle, I received the call that they wanted me in Spartanburg, SC. *Really? I'm going to move to South Carolina? Ok!*

I am so proud of myself for being fearless. The old Annie would have been scared out of her mind moving to a place knowing absolutely NO ONE, but this new and improved Annie was nothing but excited for what lay ahead. Although it was one of the most challenging years of my life, I felt everything that had happened (for better or worse) once again helped me to continue to grow. I learned a lot about what it meant to be in a professional setting, but also learned what profession I did not intend on furthering. I learned that social work was indeed not for me. Although I love what BBBS is all about and will one day be a Big Sister myself, it was just not the right fit for a job for me *cross that one off the list*.

My saving grace in SC was when I met Travis. I felt once I met him, my time in SC was more bearable. Then, 5 months later he had to move back to KY and I was heartbroken, but deep down knew that wasn't the end for us. So, once again, here is the even more new and improved Annie deciding to move with Travis to Louisville, KY. "Sure! Why not!?". (Where all this spontaneity came from, I don't know that I'll ever know, but am ever so grateful for it).

So, ok. I'm moving to Louisville. I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do for a job, but that will NOT stop me. I'll work multiple part-time jobs if I have to but I was determined something was going to work out. Then I discovered the Louisville Science Center (now renamed Kentucky Science Center since then). I applied for a part time job there, no luck, applied for another job there, they want me in for an interview! Wahoo! But at the same time I was up for a position as VISTA Leader (sure, I can handle yet another year of living in poverty doing great work for a new community...). As the Science Center didn't work out in my favor (this time) I was lucky enough to have received the position with AmeriCorps.

This third chance with AmeriCorps has been quite amazing. It has showed me how fantastic Louisville really is. I have been able to network with such amazing people throughout the whole city, while helping to improve the VISTA program here.

I was very frustrated by the fact that when I first came here, the VISTAs really didn't know each other all that well. This hit me hard because my VISTA girls (Sparkles!!) got me through a lot in SC. VISTAs need each other, because no one else can truly understand the frustrations and excitements that being a VISTA can bring. So I made it my goal here in Louisville to create that sense of togetherness for my VISTAs. I was only responsible for 10 VISTAs coming into this, so for the first couple of months I researched and researched and finally found over 20 VISTAs (and counting) in Louisville. I was able to invite all these VISTAs to the trainings I put on, as well as get togethers here and there. This created a whole new community of VISTA members and increased the resources for VISTAs to have to help them have a successful year.

Although it is hard to leave me position here, I have finally found my calling. I was constantly checking the Science Center's website for newly posted jobs, just on the off chance that something might come up. Now, I feel I need to make this clear, I have loved everything about my position here as VISTA Leader, I have an amazing supervisor, amazing coworkers, the best group of VISTAs, a fantastic workplace, and a great network of people who helped me through. I am not at all disappointed with my time here, I just happened to find my dream job with really bad timing.

So. I found the position of Administrator of Volunteer Services with the newly named Kentucky Science Center, and it is everything I could have asked for in a dream job. Not only am I going to be able to utilize my General Science degree (was completely convinced it wasn't going to come in handy ever) but also all my experience coordinating volunteers with AmeriCorps. I support everything the Science Center is about and now have the tools and resources within this community to help enhance and expand the volunteer program.

It feels amazing after 2 1/2 years of living year to year, not knowing what the next August would bring, where I would be moving, what kind of a job I would have, to finally have a place to call home. I feel my feet are finally on stable ground and I can really begin to start living my adult life not feeling like I'm constantly on the move. This experience with AmeriCorps has been the best of my life. But look forward to it only getting better here in Louisville.

You want to know how I know that I can look back and call my life a success up to this point? Everything I do, I stop to think what my dad would think of all of this. And I can honestly say, I think he would be blown away at the person I have become. I have inherited a lot of his traits and mannerisms (not all necessarily for the better), but I am so grateful to have carried on his love of adventure, and his passion for having such high hopes and dreams. I will never stop dreaming big, and never stop fighting to get and give the best out of life.

As one journey ends, yet another begins. This is the beginning of the rest of my life. It feels so amazing that all my hard work of searching for what I am truly passionate for has paid off. It has all brought me here, to Louisville, to do amazing things.

So, I bid adieu to this AmeriCorps Blog, as there is no more of this story to tell. I look forward to being able to look back on this blog and be reminded of the most amazing journey of my life, so that I may never forgot the people, places, and experiences that have made me who I am today. I am so very thankful to all of those that contributed to this journey, and hope that your support continues with me on this new and bigger journey called life. Welcome to adulthood, Annie, you sure are going to need it.

Louisville!

Alright. Here goes another attempt at keeping up with this blog.

The title is still appropriate...here I am two months into my third year with AmeriCorps. Changing and improving communities one step at a time.

It's interesting the variety of service I have been exposed to these past three years. I started out doing direct service, getting my hands dirty, seeing my hard work's results in front of my eyes. To working behind the scenes at a non-profit and helping to build the capacity of the agency, not necessarily seeing the outcome, but knowing that with all the hard work there will likely be multiple positive outcomes out in the community.

Louisville. It's possible here.

This brings us to me here in Louisville. Here in Louisville I am a VISTA Leader. This means I am supporting and guiding VISTAs here in Louisville to build capacity of non-profits. So I have kind of taken one more step back (or up depending on how you look at it) in the hierarchy of nonprofits and community service.

It was a slow start moving to Louisville. When I first got here I didn't have to work the first week as the place I work was under construction, so that gave Travis and I some time to get settled into our apartment (pictures to come when maybe it's not such a mess). When I was finally able to come into work, the construction was still going on and they were moving offices and everything was quite hectic. It wasn't until last week that I felt settled, with an office space, a computer with working internet, a phone to use, no construction noises, paint fumes or anything to distract me from my work.

A taste of what my apartment looks like
(although it don't look like this anymore)

Where I work is the Americana Community Center. The community center is a fantastic place serving a diverse population of refugees, immigrants, as well as US citizens. Americana provides a wide variety of services including Family Education, an After School Program, ESL classes, GED classes, and Citizenship classes. The reason my office is located in the community center is because the grant for the VISTA project I lead is through Americana. The project supervisor is my supervisor and is on staff here at Americana. So within our VISTA project are 10 (soon to be 12) VISTAs at a variety of nonprofits around Louisville. I am here to act as a support and contact for the VISTAs and their supervisors to ensure they have a pleasant and successful year.

So far, I feel really good about this position. I work in a great environment, with great people and the VISTAs are all very passionate about what they are doing, and that makes me even more motivated to do a great job.

Me and my fellow ex -SC VISTA newly VISTA Leaders Nicole and Liz

I was lucky enough to be able to attend a training for my position and travel to Chicago for 4 days. I. Love. Traveling. Every single bit of it. Something about it gives me such a sense of independence. I love relying on myself and only myself to get from point A to point B. It makes me realize I really am an adult and am responsible for everything I do. Chicago was great. It gave me a chance to see some of my lovely ladies who were VISTAs with me in SC who became VISTA Leaders else where. It also was a fantastic opportunity to meet a large amount of people who are just as passionate as I am. Every single one of these people was willing to commit to yet another year in AmeriCorps (don't know how many were as silly as me and doing it a third time). It also gave me an opportunity to see one of my very good friends who was actually on my team while I was in NCCC. She lives just outside of Chicago and was nice enough to play tour guide for a rainy, cold, dark night. I said "I just want to be a tourist" and be a tourist I did.

Our lovely tour guide Emma and a really cool shot of the Bean!

Living in Louisville has been interesting so far. Technically I live in Indiana (it was a bit cheaper) but the easiest way to explain it is New Albany is to Louisville as South Portland is to Portland. I can get to downtown Louisville in less than 10 minutes, while not living in the big city, but rather a separate, smaller city which is more convenient for getting to grocery stores, target, etc. while also having the ease of getting downtown for anything exciting that might be going on.

Pumpkin patch!

I have officially been here 2 months now, and I have to say, Louisville is all about festivals! There have been so many different festivals happening from art, to fall, to food, to beer. This city definitely has a lot of exciting stuff to offer, and as long as I'm willing to keep an eye out for things going on, I simply cannot get bored here. With it being what I am officially calling my favorite season EVER Kentucky and Indiana have a lot to offer as far as fun fall festivities go. Like always, attempted apple picking but I was too late in the darn season and all the apples had been picked. So. To the corn maze and pumpkin patch we go! Travis and I spent a day finding our way through the corn maze (backwards, mind you. We were confusing the heck out of everyone who passed us) and then took a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch where we each picked a pumpkin and will be soon having a carve-off. It's on.

Me and Travis in the corn maze. It was perfect weather.

My view from my transfer stop for the bus to work.

Now. I made a big accomplishment in my life this past week. My drive to work roundtrip is about 28 miles (everyone laughs at me when I complain about that, but come on guys, I went from being able to walk to Hannaford in 2 minutes, to living where I work with NCCC, to a 4 mile drive in SC, a 20 minute drive for me is a big deal, ok!?) But I am mostly feeling it when it comes to filling up my car with gas. When I have to fill my car up every week, we've got a problem. So. Being a good problem solver, I decided to become a big girl and learn how to ride the big city bus. Luckily, the public transportation in Louisville includes Indiana since it is a part of the metro area. So I had to consider the great money saving advantages, and then consider the time commitment. Is an extra hour and a half a day worth an extra $30-$40 in my pocket each month? As a VISTA living in poverty....YES! So I stepped up my game and bought some bus passes to first test it out, and I survived two round trips so far! (including my two long walks from the bus stop to my car being hit on by what seems men who just wait for beautiful women as myself to get off so they can talk my ear off hitting on me almost all the way to my car...) So being hit on aside, I think this whole bus deal will be my best bet. VISTA wants us to truly understand what it is like to live in poverty, well, here you go government, I GET IT!

I think I've caught you up mostly on what is happening in my life for now. More to come I am sure. Also. Just booked my flight home for Christmas. I am quite delightfully excited. Hope all is well my lovely people! <3

Oops. End of my year as a VISTA

Oh my gosh. This blog has been an epic fail on my part this year and I apologize sincerely to those of you who I know are dedicated followers. But to put it simply, this year wasn't quite as exciting on a constant basis as last year was. But. My job here at Big Brothers Big Sisters has been fulfilling for the most part, but I am more than ready to move on.

Being an AmeriCorps*VISTA for a year has shown me how much help really is needed in every community. Being a VISTA we are to live in poverty as those we are helping do every day. Whenever I would lose focus as to why I am here, there would always be a reminder that would pop up, whether it was getting to talk to a kid and how having a Big Brother has changed his life, or hearing a Big talk about the accomplishments they have seen their little do in such little time. The kids that benefit from this program really do need an extra support and I encourage all of you out there, if not becoming a mentor, to look into volunteer opportunities around your community and give back. I know that once I get settled I am going to continue to be a part of this program and want to become a Big Sister myself.

Now, the big question, what's next?? Well. As I am on a roll of moving to new and exciting places, I am all packed up and ready to move to Louisville, KY this Friday. I will be moving there with my boyfriend Travis whom I met here in Spartanburg where he was part of a program where he was a Writer in Residence.When he moved back to Kentucky we were going through our options and tried our darndest to move to Charleston, SC because it is so dreamy and beautiful and quite awesome. But. It just wasn't in the cards for us. Finding a place to live and for me finding a job just wasn't lining up. So We decided on Louisville, a place neither of us has lived, but is only a 2 hour drive from his family and where there are many more opportunities for me to find a job there. I just found out this afternoon that I received a position with AmeriCorps as a VISTA Leader (a step up from what I'm currently doing.) Essentially I will be a leader and support for 12 VISTAs in Louisville and be a kind of liaison for them and their supervisors to get them through their year. Yes, this will be my 3rd year with AmeriCorps, but AmeriCorps has been such an amazing experience for me so far, I figure one last year wouldn't hurt. (hint: keep an eye out on Facebook, if I get it, you will certainly know, if you don't see it on my Facebook chances are you'd hear it from me or my mom anyway.)

When I first went into AmeriCorps NCCC 2 years ago I was a naive girl who had yet to move away from home because for some reason I was scared of this big world. But. Little did I know, I would grow so much as a person simply by letting go and moving on. NCCC opened my eyes to the beautiful concept of community service. I had never given a thought to helping anyone else out, I was worried about surviving myself. But when my eyes were opened to how lucky I have been in life as to what I have been provided, I realized I had to become selfless and spend my life giving back to others that are less fortunate than I. Being able to provide direct service and physically see the difference I made is so heart warming and pushed me to want to do more. So when I decided to become a VISTA, I got to see the other side of service which is essentially the behind the scenes work.

Proof that this year has helped me grow as a person is that I am moving to a brand new city where I only know one person, at the time didn't have a job and will essentially be starting new. The Annie 2 years ago would be having an absolute catastrophic meltdown at the idea of all of that. But. I have grown to the point where I have enough confidence in myself that I know I want to be happy there. I have this new outlook on life that everything will fall into place as it is supposed to. Although I have to work for it, but I am more than willing to work for it. I want to be successful in life, and success in life right now to me is being happy, and enjoying what I do everyday. I don't want to settle for a job that I wake up every morning dreading having to go to work. I want to be excited to go. Now, if to start I have to settle for that job to become stable while I find that job, I can handle that, but I won't give into that forever.

I also realized that I know now where my sense of adventure and fearlessness to move to a brand new place comes from. My dad. My dad was a man who did things "just cause". He wanted to move to Florida and work at Universal Studios, so, he packed up his family of 4 and moved to Orlando, FL (with a 1 and 6 year old, brave, brave man). For whatever reason, it didn't work out, so, we moved right back to Maine. Then 12 years later, he wants to be a security guard at the Sahara hotel, ok, sure, let's all up and move all the way across the country to Las Vegas (what!?). I love so much telling people that story because it takes them by surprise every time because it is so out of the ordinary for a family from Maine to up and move to Vegas for 8 months. But I have come to realize, if you take a chance and it doesn't work out, there is always somewhere to go. There will always be people supporting you and a place to go back to. I want to move to Louisville, so by gosh, I'm going to!

It was such a relief to hear today about getting this position. It is going to be a great way to network and learn a lot about the Louisville community. I am also going to take the time to volunteer some places. I really want to volunteer at the Louisville Science Center and learn more about what they do, as well as hopefully becoming a Big Sister at some point this year. So. Just wanted to share all this fabulous information with you. I am not guaranteeing that I will get any better at this blog, but maybe I can come up with a new concept for it that will make me want to share my new experiences with you. Wish me luck and drop me a text/facebook/email message if you would like my new address. Mail and goodies are always accepted. <3 you all!

Almost April...REALLY!?

Hello from the warmest place on Earth (or so it feels like to me for being the end of March). This is probs going to be a very boring blog, but, to please you readers I shall write.

I've been lucky and been able to visit some new places, I was able to go to Charlotte and visit IKEA which I fell in love with. When I become a millionare (haven't quite figured out how yet...) I'm going to wander in there and say "Excuse me, I want this exact room, I'll take it all" If you haven't been able to make it to one, please do. I could stay in there for hours sitting on all the couches (I simply can't help myself). I can't wait to have my own place and be able to decorate...and afford it...then I wandered around downtown Charlotte which is just another big city to me. It was cool to be around big buildings again but it wasn't anything special. Although I didn't go looking to do anything special either, just thought I'd check it out to claim "Why yes, I've been to Charlotte".
Another weekend I was able to go down to Columbia, the lovely state capitol. It is a very old city, and is where USC is located. I went to a competition called Poetry Out Loud where high schoolers recite their favorite poems in hopes to win a chance to go to DC for the national competition. That was at the Art Museum which was pretty cool. I did another wander around the city type deal, and can now say I have been to Columbia. :) I do want to go back though because I didn't have enough time but at the State Museum they have the BodyWorlds exhibit and I really badly have been wanting to see that for a while now, so I think that'll be another trip on down there!
And my other adventure was to Asheville to see the badn Dr Dog perform which I loved, it was at this venue called The Orange Peel which has a really cool vibe to it. It just felt good to be at a concert with live music that I love. I was getting sick of wandering into a bar and hear another stupid cover band. I was ready for some good and beautiful music. Although I had worked from 9-7 that day then spent 3 hours standing at that concert, needless to say I was completely exhausted and luckily had the whole next day off! I want to make it back to Asheville with time to wander around more. It has a feel to it that reminds me of Portland (minus the ocean of course) But I can tell you. It is hippie central, I found myself in a sea of plaid shirts and some pretty awesome beards. So it felt comforting compared to here in Spartanburg.
Had an ok St. Patty's Day, was pretty excited cause I went to the only Irish bar in Spartanburg and thought they'd know how to throw a good St Patty's Day, I was incorrect on that assumption. There was a stupid cover band, no green beer, and just wasn't what I was expecting, so I was kind of let down. It's hard when a year ago I was in Denver where have a day long parade and all the bars are hopping and have green beer. That's all I was asking for was one green beer...but...alas I left with none. But it's ok, I just wanted to get out and experience it, didn't like it so now I know where not to be on St. Patty's day!
Still haven't quite decided where I'm going to move in 4 and a half months but I'm weighing all of my options. I have been super intimidated by applying for jobs, although I know, I know that's the only way I'm going to get one but. I haven't had the inspiration to write about how awesome I am. I know it. You know it. Isn't that enough? I wish. If anyone out there is willing to write some awesome cover letters in exchange for hugs, please feel free to let me know. *Requirement = you have to agree how awesome I am before I let you write about how awesome I am.
So biggest news I have is that in a week from Saturday I will be jumping out of a perfectly fine airplane with my mother. Yes, we know, we've heard it from all of you, we're crazy, but I am super excited (nervous yes, of course) but is something I've always wanted to do and there is no turning back because it has been paid for and there are no refunds...And after that we are going to head to Charleston for a couple days and stay at a hotel on the beach :) I cannot WAIT to see the ocean again. 3 months is too long to not see the dang ocean when you grew up 2 minutes from it. So I absolutely cannot wait to see my mom and show her where I've been living the last 7 months! And I'm sure she can't wait to share some of this lovely weather :)
And then a month after that I will be heading to DC to visit Brian and Lindsay for Lindsay's graduation! Yay! Then might potentially come home sometime in June, haven't quite decided yet. But it's nice to have things to look forward to spread out, that will help me get through these next 4 months a little more sanely!

Well it's been nice catching you all up, I think that's all I have for now? If I think of anything I'll come back here and blab all about it! Adios!

January in South Carolina

I.Am.An.Awful.Blogger. Sorry. It's just so crazy that this year is not quite as exciting as the last. BUT it's still an adventure. I do have to say, I don't mind being in South Carolina for winter. There has been zero inches of snow, a minimum of maaaaybe 30 something degrees. We have had a couple 70 degree days in January and February and you won't hear me complain about it. I was able to get out and play some bocce, go on a walk, a bike ride, really not too shabby for January :)

Let's see what else I was able to do in January...I was able to go to Atlanta with work and had a great time. I was in Atlanta for my training back in August for 4 days but didn't step foot out into the city because my bed at the Marriott was just too comfy to leave (This had only been a week after returning from NCCC in which I spent about 8 months total sleeping on an air mattress...)  There was a donor who offered for 25 Big Brothers Big Sisters matches to take a trip to Atlanta the Saturday before Martin Luther King Day. And lucky for me staff is invited to go! We were able to go to the MLK monument which was cool because the bigs were able to teach their littles a little bit about what the day was all about. Then we headed to the aquarium where I absolutely fell in love and could spend the whole day there just staring at the amazement that exsists there. Just love it. And then we went to the World of Coke which in all honesty, kinda sucks. But, hey, got to see it so that's pretty cool. I got to taste a bunch of Coca Cola products from around the world, there is a lot of nasty ones, but I personally think apple soda is a brilliant idea. And then we ended the day by going to The Varsity for dinner. This was one of the things I had so many people tell me I needed to do while in the city. It is quite an experience. I had to wait in line about 20 minutes to order my food and I got a burger, onion rings and their "orange drink" which is just like Hi-C orange, but it was all very delicious and I'm glad I was able to experience Atlanta properly after failing to appreciate it when I went for training.

Then on Martin Luther King Jr Day us VISTAs were all team leaders for groups of people to go out and do a service project. I was so happy to get out and do some direct service again finally. But what did I get to do? I worked in a thrift store dusting shelves and putting price tags on clothes (sound a bit familiar Fire 6?) and I had a group of high schoolers who honestly just didn't want to be there. They were a part of an AmeriCorps group in which they go out and tutor kids in school, and as I asked them why they were here today they basically all agreed they were there "For the hours" and didn't want to answer any of my questions about MLK and made me really frustrated. I could have sat there for an hour talking to them about how important community service is and why they should be wanting to do this, but I held it in and let them go. I just got very frustrated that they felt they were there by requirement only. I wanted to instill in them what AmeriCorps is all about and that it is  more than a resume builder (which that ain't too shabby either). But it made me think that maybe this is a good way to tie together my love for working with kids and my newly found love for AmeriCorps and community service. We'll see!

A while ago a mom in our program told us she was a part of a bike club and they wanted to raise money for us and mentioned they would like someone representing BBBS at their event on a Saturday. My co-worker had asked her the obvious questions, Where is the event? When should we be there? What is the dress code?...the answer was The Clarion, at 9:00pm (and that we would be going on after the lingerie show...red flag, right!?) , cocktail attire. So the Clarion is in a sketchy part of the city, so I told my Co-worker I'd go with her to be safe. So I start driving in and I call her and I say "This is a sketchy area" and she told me "just wait till you get to the parking lot"...I pull in and the parking lot is so full and there are biker people walking around everywhere! I pull into a parking lot behind the hotel and was quite honestly afraid to get out of my car. So we go to go inside and the place is surrounded by about 20+ FBI...not a good sign going into it...and the woman told us we would want to stay where we were cause the lingerie show was happening now and we probably didn't want to go back there right now. So we waited around as all these big motorcycle guys were walking around and women in some of the sluttiest outfits I've seen (a lot of sequence and sparkles...and a lot of skin...) So it comes time for us to accept our check and my brave brave co-worker agrees to be the one to go up on stage and accept the check (she was surrounded by about 20 of these women, looking a little out of place in her cute sundress and cardigan (I was wearing a sweater dress, also not blending in very well)) and she did a much better job than I ever could do! And we got out of there as fast as we could...not exactly appropriate for us to be there, next time we will know to just have them send us a check and that we are not available on a Saturday at 9pm after a lingerie show. Quite an interesting experience and don't think I'll be joining a bike club anytime soon...

A lot of you might have seen my FB status related to me MCing our volutneer appreciation banquet. We won some money from the United Way and had to use that money toward volunteers so we decided since January was National Mentoring Month we should through a little thank you banquet for our volunteers. So I spent most of the month planning out this banquet and trying to get as many people to this event as possible. I wasn't quite sure how the event was going to go but it went so amazingly. We had it at a restaurant called City Grill which is a fairly fancy place, so it was nice to be able to treat our volutneers to such delicious food. We had it setup that we had some people speak (a couple of board members, a Big Brother who has been with our program since 1999 and our CEO), showed a slideshow, and presented our Big Brother and Big Sister of the year with awards and videos of their little brother and sister thanking them (it was super cute). What got to me the most was the Big Brother that spoke. He told his story of how he has had 4 little brothers with our program and is currently in his 4th match right now. He still talks to 2 of his other little brothers, one even has a family of his own now. One of his little brothers asked him why he was in a job that he didn't enjoy and told him "you are always telling me to follow my dreams, what is your dream?" and he said how he's always wanted to be a teacher and they made a pact that they would both follow their dreams. The Big Brother is now a teacher at Spartanburg High School, and that little brother is a student there and he wants to become a lawyer. I sat there with my jaw dropped and told myself "this is exactly why I am here and am doing what I am doing." Had a little bit of a revelation and a boost that I had been needing to appreciate this opportunity I have been given to give back and improve a community that so deserves it. Especially for the children in this community who But I did a perfectly fine joare benefiting from a mentor they otherwise wouldn't have. b of MCing. I had a whole script written out to help me but I ended up not having to use it because I forced myself to introduce myself to every person who walked into the room so I wasn't talking to a bunch of strangers. So I got up there and let my personality shine and did a pretty good job for someone who absolutely dreads speaking in front of large groups of people. We got many compliments as to how well the event all came together, so I was very excited to hear that.

What's up next for me here at good ole Big Brothers Big Sisters is we are needing to make a certain number of matches by April in order to get a really big grant which would be amazing, so we are working our butts off to get as many matches made as possible. But also we have our biggest fundraising event coming up called Bowl for Kids Sake. Some of you might have heard of it before, I remember hearing about it when I was back in Maine, the BBBS there does one as well. No matter where you are you can be a part of this fundrasing event for your local BBBS by either getting a team together and raising money or finding out how you can donate. Enough of my promoting my organization. But I'm very excited for this event and hope we do a decent job of raising some money!

In other news, not much else has been going on here in good ole Spartanburg. I have started looking into what the heck I'm going to do with my life come August (yes, it is only 6 months away that I have to figure out the next chapter of my life, NBD...). It is an amazing yet scary thing that I can honestly go anywhere I want. I have considered Denver, DC, Maine, and staying here in SC as to WHERE I would go. But the other part (kinda a big part) is WHAT I want to do. Not only do I need to decide between a) Going back to school or B) Finding a job, I also need to figure out what I would go to school for, or what kind of job I'm looking for. I've been saying how it's crazy that I'm basically complaining that I can do anything with my life right now. But that is so gosh darn intimidating! If you know me, you know I don't like choices and having to make decisions, so when it's as open ended as these options, I'm going a little cray cray down here. So that is going to be a long and stressful 6 months coming up, but I know I'll be fine. I just have absolutely no idea where I'll end up because a year ago I certainly never would have thought in a millioin years I'd be living in South Carolina...I still honestly can't believe it.

As I look back at the last year and a half of my life I don't regret any of it. I have grown so much as a person and was exactly what I needed. 2 years ago I never would have said "Why, yes, I would love to move to Denver and travel every 2 months and not know what kind of conditions I would be living in" or "South Carolina is a place I've always wanted to live! I don't know anyone at all but sure, I'll pack everything I own and move there, I love meeting new people". But now with pure confidence I can say I invite new opportunities, new places and new people into my life. I love the idea of adventures and the unknown (or am at least much more comfotable with them) now. I am excited to see where I end up a year from now and hope that I can say that I love where I am, love the people I've surrounded myself with and most importantly am happy and content with what I am doing with my life.

Well. That was much  more than I expected to share in this blog entry! But I'm sure it will have made a lot of you happy to know that I am doing just fine and am happy for the most part with what I am doing. If anyone has any feedback or suggestions as to what they think I should do or where I should go come August please feel free to text/call/email/facebook/skype me. (there are many ways to get a hold of me) Thanks all for reading, if you made it this far, I'll be very impressed and thanks for caring enough about me to read all my junk.

I will end with the poem that our Big Brother shared with us at our Volunteer Appreciation Banquet.

Our Deepest Fear

by Marieann Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

That is all. You is all nice and I like you (well, most of you)

To Maine and back

Well. It was nice to go home for Christmas. Saw a lot of awesome people and relaxed a lot more than I probably should have. Got to go to L.L. Bean twice, ate 3 cheese pazzos, 2 bags o Humpty Dumpty chips, lobster for Christmas dinner, walked down Spring Point, girls night at Margaritas, had a slice at Otto, went to christmas parties, went to 2 Tuesday night dinners, played board games and ate Chinese food for new years eve, got to go out and listen to local music multiple times. I miss it all already. But that sums up a winter break in Maine pretty well.
So I'm back in good ole Spartanburg. As of right now I wont be coming back until August, but we'll see if I can actually last that long. At work I've got alotta work ahead of me to help organize the Bowl for Kids Sake which is our biggest fundraiser of the year. And I just found out today that a week from Saturday I get to go on a field trip for work to Atlanta and go to the mlk monument, aquarium, world of coke, and eat at the Varsity! I'm very much looking forward to that.
I'll attempt to keep up with my blog by popilar demand but not much is going on down here. Stay tuned!

November/December in the South

I'm really bad at this apparently. But luckily I haven't been up to too much anyway. Since the last post at work I helped to organize our Christmas Party. I had the pleasure of calling around 100 parents to find out what their children wanted for Christmas, then go shop for about 90 of them (about 6 hours at walmart and $1,000 later). It was kind of fun, but stressful at the same time. So that was most of my month of November at work. Then I was able to go home for Thanksgiving :) it was so nice to be there I didn't want to go back, but then I realized I would be back in 3 weeks anyway (now it's only 3 days away!!!!!) Had a fantastic Thanksgiving and got to see a bunch of people and had a nice time relaxing (I needed a little break).

I was able to go to the Portland Tree Lighting
and see the lovely Whitney and Beth :)

Once I got back it was go go go to get this Christmas Party ready. Good thing I'm such a master shopper and wrapper! My silly useless skills have come into play (maybe not as useless as I thought)!! yay!! The party went really well, we had the largest attendance in the history of their Christmas Parties so that made me feel good that my hard work to get people there worked! And we had a bunch of food, a step team from Boys and Girls Club (not to be confused with Big Brothers Big Sisters like it always is), a gospel rapper, and a ShutterBooth, one of those photo booths that you get to take 4 pictures and it comes out on a strip, so the Bigs and Little were able to get some pictures taken to take home :) everyone really enjoyed it. And then we handed out the presents apparently the fastest and smoothest they ever have before (I am good when it comes to organization as well) I don't have any pics of the party yet but I'll try to remember to post some when we get them...can't promise anything cause we all know my memory is completely awful....

BUT as for fun stuff this weekend we had our Ugly Sweater party with all of the VISTAs

Yay for ugly sweaters!

Then we headed to downtown Greenville which is 30 minutes away and a much bigger city than Spartanburg and this is the first year they have had an outdoor skating rink. So of course I was in my element and only the best skater of the group! Everyone was shocked that I live down the street from a pond that I can walk to and take my skates to and skate as much as I want to (Which I miss a lot...maybe next year).

Ice Skating in downtown Greenville,SC

Last night I went to karaoke, but the thought of getting up on the stage terrified me...that's a fear I have to work really hard on before I even DARE get up there and sing. I can barely sing in front of a couple people let alone a room full of people...although I like to sing, I don't want anyone to hear it but me...

And last but not least! Friday at 7pm I will land in good old Portland, Maine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait. Sad thing is it might my last time there until I leave in August....we'll see if I can really last that long, it'll be a test for me for sure. But I will be home for over 2 weeks and leave on Monday, january 2nd. SO if you wanna hang out, let me know, I will be carless most of the time and don't have a lot of definite plans, just play it day to day! I cannot wait. 2 1/2 more days in this office. Then off on another plane! I should have gotten frequent flier miles a while ago...oh well. Happy Holidays to all and see you Mainers in a couple days!!

Halloween Weekend and Such

Hello! Been fairly busy lately which has been good.  A few weeks ago I got to go to an amusement park normally called Carowinds, but on weekend nights they decked it all out with haunted mazes and everything scary and called it Scarowinds.  I had a lot of fun, but...I now get sick on rides...and that's no fun.  The first thing when we got there we went on a roller coaster called the "Intimidator" (for those of you who have been to Six Flags in MA, it is similar to the Superman (now Bizzaro) roller coaster.  So it taked you up 232 ft. and you go down about an 80 degree drop and go around 80 mph on this roller coaster. Love it.




The Intimidator



Shayne, Snoopy, Veronica, myself, woodstock and Andy at Scarowinds



Margaret, Nicole, Me, Veronica, and Kaitlin



We attempted to go apple and/or pumpkin picking, but it turned out it was too late for either.  So we just spent some time walking around Niven's Apple Farm

Nicole, me Liz and Veronica on a tractor at the farm!

Veronica, Margaret and I enjoying our walk in a park (obviously we're taking a break from the walk)

Had a pretty laid back weekend last weekend, didn't do much, enjoyed the beautiful South Carolina fall weather.  Veronica and I attempted to drive to the mountains to be leaf peepers, but as we were getting to the pretty part of the mountains, my car decided to not go 70mph anymore but decides it won't go anymore than 50mph, smell awful, and sound awful. So we were about 5 or 10 miles from the next exit, but I decided to turn around then cause who knows what the heck the car was going to decide to do.  It made it back, a week later its still running, should probs get it checked out but...well..lets face it, I'm lazy and don't want to know the diagnosis.



This past weekend was the weekend to celebrate Halloween! We started by volunteering at a local Zombie Crawl.  Don't know if I have talked about the Artist in Residence(AIR) program here in Spartanburg, but there are 4 artists who are given a place to live and room to work on their art, and they are here for a year to work with the community and introduce and promote art.  So we've become friendly with the 3 current AIRs and they were the ones putting on the Zombie Crawl so we thought it would be nice to help them out a little bit.  I had gone in earlier on Friday to attempt to help them set up (I'm not all that creative, but can follow directions).  Later on we went early to become zombies and take our places to help out.  People came and paid money to support the AIR program and in return we provided a bloody wardrobe (I was helping at the dressing room area) as well as zombie makeup and a video as to how to become and act like a zombie.  After that we (in the cold rain) started to march down to downtown Spartanburg and had about 50 zombies overtake downtown (kinda freaky).  We at one point went up to a building that was having a get together (all fancy shmancy) and went up to the glass doors moaning like zombies until the security guard came out and told us we have to leave.  We stopped by the local Hub-Bub Bookstore and had someone do a zombie reading.  Afterward a dance party was had and it was a good time.



Kristi, Shayne, Liz, Veronica and I "attempting" to be zombies...



Zombie crowd listening to the reading at the bookstore downtown



Vistas as zombies!

Veronica, Me, Liz, Shayne, Andy and Kristi in front of the fountain downtown
(it is supposed to be pink for breast cancer awareness...just happens to look like
blood for the zombie crawl!)

Me and Veronica's awkward zombie prom picture

Zombie attack at a fancy party (note security guard coming out to shoo us away)

Then on Saturday night we all got together (Vistas) in Greenville at the home of two ex-Vistas and had a potluck and went downtown Greenville to celebrate Halloween!  Greenville is about 30-40 mins west of Spartanburg and is a bigger city.  We had a bunch of delicious casseroles and cider and desserts before heading downtown

Me (Rapunzel), Kristi (artist), Nicole (Black Swan), Veronica (TopGun dude), Shayne (Cat), Andy (punk),
Kaitlin, Liz and Margaret (Skittles) at the potluck

Then we headed downtown to a bar called the Velo Fellow which was really neat.  There were 2 dudes playing some sweet 90's tunes and we all just sat around and talked for a while.

Me, Nicole and Margaret at Velo Fellow



Then we headed to a place I honestly never found out the name of for some dancing (until 2am...) I've been staying up way too late these past couple weekends, but it's all for the sake of fun! And Sunday I was able to relax in my bed for 90% of the day. Love those days!

Rapunzel and Skittle dancing!

The side affect to dancing for Rapunzel...she lost her hair..

"Put your hands up!'



Punk and Rapunzel havin a good ole time

So that's my past couple weekends wrapped up into a blog post.  No plans coming up anytime soon.  Just a countdown to home! 18 days! Can't wait, I am definitely in need of a break. Well..that's all I've got for now...send me Fbook messages or emails if you want to comment and can't comment on here! Love to hear from people and how much they enjoy my blog! I'm keeping up with it for those of you reading, so let me know who you are! :) <3

Life in the South

Hello!  My time here has improved a lot.  I have been busy every weekend and had something to do on of the two weekend days.  I went to the International Festival they had which was a smaller version of Epcot at Disney.  In a park they setup a bunch of tents and a bunch of countries had a display in them.  Then they had the food section which was awesome because there were so many options to choose from!  I ended up having food from Laos, chicken on a stick and egg rolls (delicious) and then for dessert I went to Bethlehem for some baklava!  Nom nom nom.  But it was a fun experience all together!  It's neat that in Spartanburg all these people can represent all these countries. 

We then got together and watched football.  It is so interesting that I am getting into football a little bit.  I don't mind watching it because it's a good way to get together with people and socialize.  So Saturdays we tend to watch some college game and it's fun to just get together and bring food and hang out.

On Friday night there was an event called Auction for a Cause in which different non-profit organizations recieve the profits made from this event.  It was really nice to get out and be surrounded by the community members.  There was delicious free food and a silent auction followed by a live auction.  I was tempted to go for the 4 disney world passes but I figured I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend right now...

This weekend I'm going to an amusement park that is open till midnight and it's all Halloween themed and scary stuff everywhere, but I'm very excited to finalyl go on a roller coaster! I've been dying to go on one for the longest time.  And then we're going to go on a hike the next weekend.  And then the next weekend is Halloween weekend and I'm going to help at a zombie crawl on Friday and probably go out Saturday night.  I still have no idea what I'm going to be so I could use some help if anyone has any ideas!!! 

But I thought I'd update you on my life.  It's been packed with fun cultural things and I'm enjoying myself! AND I got talked into flying home for Thanksgiving and will be home November 18-26!  My boss was nice enough to let me have the week off since there won't be much going on here in the office.  SO keep an eye out for me around that time and let me know if you want to do anything!  I won't have a car so that will be kind of annoying but we'll make it work!   

The reason I am writing this while I'm at work is I'm observing a parent/child interview and don't want to look creepy listening in so I am looking busy by typing a whole lot.  :)  Hope all is well, if anyone wants to send mail-

Annie Cavallaro
1465 Grant Circle #11
Spartanburg, SC 29307

More than welcome to send me a nice little letter :) I always love surprise mail.  Love to all.  <3

Spartanburg, SC

Well hello! Long time no talk! I didn't think blogging would be interesting while I'm here, but I realized that you people still want to know what's going on with me!

So I've officially been here for a month.  I had flown down to Atlanta for training, then flew to Spartanburg to partially move into my new townhouse.  After another training on Monday I flew back home to Maine to finsh up some loose ends and to get my car.  I took a 2 day journey driving from Maine to South Carolina.  For the first part of the trip my brother Brian and his girlfriend Lindsay were with me and I was able to drop them off in Maryland near DC, spend the night and continue the journey on my own from there.  It was a long drive simply for the fact that the air conditioning in my car doesn't work and I was driving through the south.  But I made it.

So now that I've been here for a month I'm getting a lay of the land.  Have some good friends who are VISTAs here as well.  They all work at different non-profit organizations around Spartanburg.  I live with another VISTA and two others live in the same townhouse complex, so that's convenient.

At first the job was slow going and there wasn't much for me to do.  With this job I am recruiting volunteers, interviewing them, interviewing parents and children and making those matches.  So a lot of the work I can only learn by seeing them happen first.  So now I am able to go out to college fairs and recruit volunteers on my own, I can now interview a volunteer on my own, I can now interview parents and children, so the work is starting to pick up.  It was just earlier thi week that I had seen my first interview with a parent and child, and it is heart wrenching.  It definitely made me realize why I'm here and doing what i do because these kids are in situations that aren't their fault and just need a positive role model in their lives.  So I'm enjoying the job somewhat, sometimes it can be slow if there isn't much to do but I try to keep myself busy!

As for my social life here in SC it has been going really well.  We've generally found a lot of things to do that are fun and cheap.  This past weekend I did something that I neeeeever would have everdone before.  I went Contra Dancing.  We drove out to this middle of nowhere place, were surrounded by college kids as well as older adults and you learn the basic moves, then similar to line dancing learn a specific dance, have a partner that is a stranger and get to know them by sweating on them and getting very very dizzy spining in so many circles.  But I had a great time and talked to strangers (that sounds bad, but was a good experience) and went out of my comfort zone and became comfortable with it.  A couple weeks ago we also decided to go test out the local "dance club" Rome.  It was quite interesting, a great place to go if you really enjoy dancing to techno music and have creeps around you at all times.  But once again was a good experience to have.

I have gone to a couple events downtown that they have including "Music on Main" and "Jazz in the Square" which are just music shows downtown and being able to enjoy music and the downtown area.  Coming up this week we are going to the Greek Festival which i am so excited to eat me a Gyro! And next weekend is their International Festival, so we've got a lot of cool culture activities to do around here and keep us busy.

So that's all I have for right now, but thought that I'd update as to what my last couple months have been like and it was pointed out that I should keep up with it even if this work isn't as exciting as what I was doing last year.  So.  I will try.  Adios.

The End.

Well.  This is it.  Last day in AmeriCorps NCCC.  It has been such a fantastic year, but I'm also so ready for it to be over.  Had a nice week off, really just sat around most of the time relaxing.  Some of the people on my team and I were able to go to a water park, which was nice and relaxing, some of us went to an open mic to see my teammate David perform, that was really good. 

Kelsey, Brandon, Greg and I out downtown

This week has been dragging on, everyone came back and we had our transition week to finish everything up business wise.  Yesterday was fun, we had our "AmeriLympics" which was essentially a field day!  We did trivia, frisbee golf toss, classic relay races, name that tune, ultimate frisbee, kickball, and feats of strength.  Our team, although not the best at everything, should have won for team spirit.  It was nice to come together and have fun.  as a team we won the name that tune and frisbee golf toss (we had 50 throws in 10 minutes while 2nd place only had 34...we were awesome...) So that was a fun day.  Then at night they had a banquet for us off campus at a really cool venue called Mile High Station.  We had some delicious dinner and sat through some awards, but it was extra fun cause we got to dress all fancy.  I stole a bunch of pictures below from Mary and Kiera cause they are just so darn good!!


My team Fire 6 at AmeriLympics



Waiting in line for Classic Relay Races



Ya, I'm crab walking, jealous!? (My body hurts real bad from this)

 

Emma and I being cowgirls



Love this picture of Emma, Mary and I at the banquet

<3 Fire 6 (I have the blue fingernail polish on)

Fire 6 at the banquet

Not the whole team, but such a good picture! Everyone looking all snazzy

Mary and I as Woody and Jesse

Love Love Love this picture :-D

So today we have been busy running around tying up loose ends and finalizing everything.  Mom got in a couple hours ago but is doing her own thing getting the car/relaxing at the hotel, and we'll do dinner tonight.  Then tomorrow is graduation where we have to wake up at 5:30AM!!!! gah it's going to be painful to wake up that early.  Then we are busy bodies till graduation at 10am and then everyones being booted off campus at 12noon.  Mom and I are going to go to the county fair after graduation tomorrow.  And in the 2 days we're here we plan on going to Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, Red Rocks and just wander around 16th St mall!  Then we'll be home midnight Monday and I'll be home through the next Monday and then again the 16-19 of August! 

Can't believe this is all ending. Everyone's so busy packing, but me being me I've been done packing 2 days ago and cleaned this morning...so I just get to relax waiting for our last meeting then off to dinner!!  I am going to be very said to say goodbye to some people, and can't wait to not have to deal with some peoples crap anymore!  I am so ready for my next journey.  It's exciting but I don't think I've fully realized that this time next month I will  be calling South Carolina home.  Just the simple fact that I'm perfectly ok with moving to SC shows how much I've grown this year and will continue to as I'm on my own in the South for a year!!  I hope my next journey after that is exciting as well.  This year has shown me that the possibilities are endless, especially at this age when I can really do anything I want/go wherever I want.  I can always come back to Maine if things don't work out.  But until then I want to explore new options and new places.  GAH I am just so darn happy with life right now and it was a long journey to reach this happiness...rough long journey but I am perfectly happy with where I am right now.  Ecstatic to come home in 4 days and so ready to move on!!! Will update how Mom and I's vacation goes! (It will be amazing I already know it!)

Leaving Tuscaloosa

Well, I've been awful with this blog.  But for good reason.  We were so busy this month! But we met such amazing people and can't even explain how amazing the people of Tuscaloosa is. 

In other news as I'm sure you've all heard that I found out Friday that I recieved a position as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Spartanburg, SC!  I've been looking into the organization for a while and figure this is a great way to be able to get a foot in the door!  AmeriCorps VISTA is different from what I'm doing now in that I won't be traveling, and I won't be in a group of people.  I will work for one year with that one organization with the same benefits that I have now.  I got this position after another girl who they accepted before dropped out.  They originally chose her over me because she lived in SC already, but I was their first call!!  So the past weekend has been crazy cause everything has been last minute and I had to get them answers to difficult questions about relocating within hours and I had a huge breakdown.  Originally they wanted me to go to a training in Atlanta from August 8-11 and then be in Spartanburg for August 15 for a training and begin on the 16th.  That was way too soon for me, I was realizing I would be home for 4 days before I had to pack up and drive all the way to Atlanta and be in Spartanburg for good.  Then they told me that that training was full and I had to go to the training in Ft. Lauderdale from the 16-19 which worked out better and gave me more time at home! Then today as we were traveling from Tuscaloosa to Little Rock I got a call that I was accepted into the training in Georgia and they needed to know in an hour how I wanted to get there! So I had a huge freakout again, but in the van with 4 of my teammates directly witnessing it all...So thanks to my lovely mother we slowly but surely came up with a plan that I think is going to work out perfectly.  I am going to get home at midnight August 1 (technically 2nd) fly either August 7 or 8 to Atlanta for training the 8th-11th, then fly/train to Spartanburg for a training on the 15th.  THEN I am paying for myself to come back home to really get myself together and have 4 extra days at home.  They were nice enough to give me an extension of my start day and I'll leave Maine again driving leaving the 20th to start the 22nd.  I figured this all out today...rough day.

So basically what I think I'll be doing with BBBS is to help find mentors for the children (Bigs) and interview them to get an idea of what kind of child they would be a good match with.  Along with that I would be giving presentations about the organization.  I am extremely excited for this new adventure!  And I already have a roomate and a townhouse about 10 mins from downtown Spartanburg.  I am lucky that Spartanburg has a really good community of VISTAs and helped me find my roomate who is also going to be a VISTA.  Lucky. 

So Tuscaloosa was absolutely amazing.  I can't believe how far they've come in almost 3 months and am very proud to be able to say I helped.  I am definitely hoping to be able to go back and help out more later on, I'll only be a 6 hour drive away!  So the work we ended up doing altogether was debris removal (hot yet rewarding), working at relief centers (a lot of organizing and hanging clothes but got to meet a lot of the people affected by the tornado) and assessments of the houses in the whole city which was cool to be able to see the path of the tornado and the difference it makes having trees in your yard or not.

I was very sad to be leaving, we got so many compliments as to how much we really made an impact on their community and that was so great to hear how much of a difference we made.  I feel so good about our work there even if it was only for one month.

So now we are on our way back to Denver where we get a week off to do...well...nothing! pretty excited about that! Don't have any plans yet, just going to let them come to me!  And the next week we round everything up and graduate on the 29th. My mom is coming for the graduation and we're going to stay in Denver and extra 2 days.  I'm very excited to be able to show her around Denver!

I'm exhausted...don't know what else to write about right now but maybe I'll try later while I'm in Denver!

Tuscaloosa

Helloooooo! Sorry haven't posted in a while. I've been exhausted, one night I almost went to sleep at 8:45....thats too early...ANYWAY So. Left on a Sunday, got to Tuscaloosa on my birthday.  My birthday was alright, not what I'm used to.  We got into Tuscaloosa around 12:00, got to the church we are going to live in and it is amazing.  The area around us got hit pretty bad, but the church is still standing and doing amazing work to help the community.  The team decided to get right to work when we got here, so my birthday was spent helping others.  At night we had some dinner and then went out for frozen yogurt to celebrate.  Not how I would have spent it if I were home, but it's ok, there will be plenty more!

So we are staying at the Forest Lake Baptist Church in their basement area, which is really nice, there is a kitchen, game room (pool table ping pong etc that we can actually use), a couple of classrooms and a bathroom.  The people that take care of us here, Debbie and Kyle are an amazing couple, probably in their 60s I'd say? We.Are.Spoiled.  They provide us with all of our food, and cook dinner for us...they are amazing.  We have showers that are in a trailer, sounds trashy but they are soooo nice! air conditioned and everything.  There are people from a church in Texas that drove it up here and they stay and hand us towels and...get this...do our laundry! I feel so bad being as spoiled as we are, but I understand that these people just want us to be taken care of.  I couldn't ask for better facilities than what we have.  Although there is always a downside...so we aren't the only ones living here, last week there was a group of 9 living here that consisted of some teenagers, lets just say they weren't very wary of our being there.  They were loud in the morning and dirty, but we dealt with it.  There are also 2 big groups of around 20 that are staying elsewhere, but eat with us, so they show up at 7:30am all loud and everything because they are teenagers as well and then are here at lunch time being loud and dinner as well...but we only have to deal with it till Monday! Then after Monday it's all ours except the nice couple that is with the shower trailer!

Turns out we are here the rest of our project, so another 3 1/2 weeks, we leave on July 19th for Denver.  So the work we have been doing has been a lot of things.  I worked a lot the first week with the Salvation Army.  I worked in the distribution center where they provide families with essential needs (food, hygiene prodeucts, cleaning products etc) and I became sort of a go to person there and would train new volunteers coming in on how to fill carts, make food bags, how to arrange things etc.  It was nice to be relied on and trusted and kind of be in charge again, I've missed it.  I loved it there the people there are amazing.  I also worked one day at their Canteen where they provide the community with a meal.  Other days we have helped with debris removal, which consists of going to houses (which are mostly debris now) and helping to clear trees, debris etc.  A big part of what we are doing here is helping the city with assessments of the houses.  So we go around to houses with sheets that we need to provide information such as how many walls are standing, if there are trees laying on the houses, if there are trees or stumps left in the yards etc and we provide them with information on free debris removal.  The past 3 days I have been working here at the church where they have a relief center which is a lot like what I did at the Salvation Army. 

So I've gotten to interact with many many community members that have been affected.  It has been very emotional and intense since we've been here, but I think we are slowly getting used to handling these situations.  The people we help at the relief centers have been helped by FEMA and are so very grateful to us and the time we are giving to help them get what they need.  I can't even put into words how awful it feels to look around this city and see all the destruction.  You can be on one street where one house is completely gone, and across the street another house looks perfectly fine on the outside.  The tornado was a mile wide and went right through the city.  I don't know who knows or not but Tuscaloosa is the home of the University of Alabama which is HUGE on their college football around here.  Everyone is so proud of their state, their college and their city.  It's amazing to see the work that has been done in just 2 months time, but it is going to take a very long time to fully recover.

Intense stuff.

Sorry if I've blabbed on too much and have made no sense, but it's a lot to handle and hard to explain everything I'm feeling and doing.  We have been working 6 8 hour days so far, which I guess normally on disaster we would be working 12 hour days, but for right now it's just been 8.  But I've been so exhausted when we get home, it's emotionally and physically draining but is one of the most amazing things I've done in my life.  I am so proud to be able to say that I have helped with a disaster and have supported so many community members.  I'll probably read this later to find out that it makes no sense....but that's ok...you might get the general idea....

One month to go! Can't wait!  I foudn out that my application is under review for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Philadelphia, so I'm hoping that falls through and I get an interview and get it!  Otherwise my plan is to just come home and figure it out from there! Who knows!

just to give you an idea of the destruction I'm surrounded by...

This is Forest Lake that is one block down the street from the church